Migration, marginalization and metropolitaneity: negotiation of masculinities of Nepali drug users in Hong Kong

• Published in: Gender, place and culture : a journal of feminist geography place and culture : a journal of feminist geography, 2017-02, Vol.24 (2), p.213-224
• Main Author: Tang, Wai-Man
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aliens; Black white relations; Colonialism; cosmopolitan masculinity; Decolonization; diáspora nepalesa; Drug abuse; Drug use; Ethnicity; Heroin; heroin use; Hong Kong; Males; marginación social; Marginality; masculinidad cosmopolita; Masculinity; Migración transnacional; Migrants; Migration; Negotiations; Nepal; Nepali diaspora; Race; Racial relations; Rehabilitation; Social exclusion; social marginalization; Social space; Transnational migration; Transnationalism; uso de heroína; 寰宇男性气概; 尼泊尔离散社群; 海洛因使用; 社会边缘化; 跨国移民
• ISSN: 0966-369X; 1360-0524
• DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2016.1277187

Many studies on men and masculinity have discussed how Asian male migrants who experience a 'masculinity crisis' negotiate their masculinity vis-à-vis dominant black and white masculinities in Western societies. Yet, few have discussed how they negotiate their masculinity in the Asian contexts. In this study, Nepalis have a tradition of transnational migration. Their transnational networks have facilitated the development of overseas Nepali communities. This research therefore aims to study the negotiation of masculinities of Nepali male heroin users, a marginalized group in Hong Kong. By using a qualitative mixed-methods approach, it is argued that their negotiation of masculinities is nuanced and relational; intersecting with race/ethnicity, social space, and generation. In the process, discursive resources in the cultural repertoire are utilized to construct alternative forms of masculinities in school, the workplace, and rehabilitation treatment. These masculinities are pluralistic and contingent, in relation to the transnational space and post-colonial situation of Hong Kong.